Also of interest: The 36 species were chosen because they have been caught in high numbers in the annual spring bottom trawl survey, and because they represent a wide range of taxonomic groups, and because they're part of the world’s longest time-series of standardized fishery populations.

In other words, these are solid data giving a solid picture of the effects of warming temperatures on our liquid world. Though I suppose some people are going to be gasping for breath in the bottom of the lifeboat before they believe that.

BTW, the Pew report on the wobbling American attitudes towards climate change is exhaustively parsed and deblogstructed by Tobin Harshaw at the New York Times Opinionator. It's a fascinating look at the sinew of opinion rubbing up against the T-bones of fact.

When author Michael Pollan spoke at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in mid-October, it’s a safe bet his hosts didn’t offer fresh cherries to the “local foods” advocate. As a locavore — someone who tries to eat only food grown within a 100-mile radius of them — Pollan would have likely reacted to cherries like a vampire reacts to garlic. At this time of year, any fresh cherries in northern California would most likely have come from orchards in Chile, roughly 6,000 miles to the southeast.

Yet, when Pollan was handed the microphone he probably did not turn to David Wehner, Dean of the college hosting the event, and ask, “By the way, Dean – Where did the electricity electrons powering this thing come from?”

I recently forgot my phone charger on a weeklong trip. I was staying with friends, so I asked around: Surely someone had a charger that fit my phone? No dice. A subway ride to the AT&T store and $30 later, I had a new charger, identical to my old one. I used it for the remainder of the trip, then shoved it in a drawer when I got home. Good story, huh?

So-called "redundant chargers" are actually a big problem—not just for forgetful people like me, but for folks who buy the same phone over and over and get a new charger (they typically come with the phone) every time. An estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide in 2008, and the UN's International Telecommunication Union estimates that between 50 and 80 percent of those were replacements.

Good news: The Union just approved a universal charger. If enough manufacturers adopt it, the industry could make half as many chargers—thus reducing greenhouse gases from manufacturing and transporting replacement chargers by as much as 15 to 24 million tons a year.

Bonus: The universal charger will likely use half as much energy on standby as conventional chargers, solving the "wall wart" problem.

The charger is currently set to launch internationally next year, and a European industry group expects it to come standard with many phones by 2012. Manufacturers won't be required to sign on, but a few (Samsung, Nokia, Motorola) already have.

So consider this a heads up: If you're in the market for a new cell phone next year, look for one with a universal charger. In the meantime, unplug your charger when you're not using it: If 10 percent of cell phone users unplugged, they would save enough energy to power 60,000 European homes. Consider a hand-crank or solar-powered charger. (People seem to like this one, which is also a radio and a flashlight. Cool.) And, uh, remember to take your charger with you on vacation.